1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lock box constructions and in particular to an improved lock box and method of making same.
2. Prior Art Statement
There are numerous product or service vending machines in use which are operated by coins, or the like, and in each such machine the coins are kept in a lock box, drawer, or compartment housed behind a cabinet wall of a vault of the machine. Authorized access to the lock box is provided through use of a key-actuated lock assembly comprising the lock box.
However, such a lock box and its lock assembly are the target of thieves and vandals and various structures and devices have been proposed heretofore for protecting same.
For example, it has been proposed to provide a lock assembly for a lock box wherein such lock assembly employs a hardened collar, or the like, which is resistant to filing chipping, or cutting action.
It has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,695 to provide a hardened protective housing rotatably secured to the outer head portion of a lock assembly for a lock box to preclude access to and mistreatment of such outer head portion.
It has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,134 to provide a face member comprising a lock box which is made of a metal which has been armored against cutting or drilling and which seeks to provide added security by recessing the forward portion of a lock assembly for such lock box within the face member while also providing hard metal inserts embedded in the face member so as to make it difficult to cut away such lock assembly utilizing a hole saw, or the like.
However, each of the previously proposed lock boxes, including those mentioned above, is basically deficient in that the lock assembly used therewith may, with minimum difficulty, be disabled by drilling through the key receiving portion thereof, picked with a lock picking tool, drilled out--as with a hole saw, or pried out.